AT&T talks Lumia 1020, takes it for a test drive (video)

AT&T is the exclusive launch partner for the newly announced Nokia Lumia 1020 here in the United States. Ralph de la Vega, AT&Ts CEO, took the stage today during the Nokia Zoom event in NYC to announce the availability date for the Lumia 1020 – July 26. AT&T also just put up some videos on their YouTube channel highlighting the 1020. Let’s check them out.

Be sure to watch that second video in HD. We can't wait to play with the camera on the Lumia 1020. Anybody looking forward to AT&T Locker? Just kidding, we know you're all about SkyDrive.

What do you guys think about AT&T being the partner for the Lumia 1020 here in the US? Praise or vent below.

Epic fail in my opinion. I love wireless charging on my L920 and the lower price. Those two things have turned me off from getting the L1020. I'm hoping the next Lumia will put the wireless charging back in along with the 41mp camera. Until then, I am sticking with my 4th L920. I have had proximity sensor problems with the other 3.

Dude seriously? Just get a wireless charging cover, that is what I will do. I will keep the cover at home (which is where I have my wireless charger) and snap it on every time I get gome and take it off when I leave. Use your head and realise that if it was built it the phone would be too thick and would turn 80% of the people off from buying it in first place. This is the best solution by far.

So 7 months after buying the 920, which I'm still under contract for, I should turn around and pay a fortune for this new device that requires to buy an extra accessory to have what I already have? You gotta be kidding.

If it were $299 including the wireless cover and camera case, sure, I'd jump on it.

He didn't say his contract was 2 years. Didn't say he was planning on buying the new device. And if he was planning on buying the new device and did have a 2 year contract - I imagine he would just buy it outright?

This phone is really cool, but the very high $300 price tag on top of being forced into paying an extremely expensive AT&T contract for the most expensive carrier is a massive deal breaker. That's more than even what you can get with the iPhone 5 and that phone has the entire apple fanbase backing it and the fact that Apple is generally overpriced for the brand name anyways.

Not to mention, the biggest reason why this is a huge joke is the phone doesn't even support SD cards. There isn't a single photographer on earth who will ever use a photography device that doesn't support SD cards. The are pretty much the only way to keep a large log of pictures on your camera for easy transfer between multiple devices/clients/computers without needing to plug your phone in. At the very least, it lets us use the phone storage for actual phone related tasks and the SD card for your pictures.

And don't tell me that "Oh but the 1020 isn't a camera so who cares!" because the phone is clearly priced and designed to appeal to photographers who would love to have a phone that also works like a high quality point+shoot camera without needing to bring the DSLR everywhere. That's the whole point! If you are getting the 1020 and aren't wanting to take full advantage of the camera then you are buying the wrong phone, and people who want to take advatnage of the camera need that SD card slot.

This is honestly a phone I'd be interested in if I could get it for $600 off contract and unlocked from the carrier, but thats clearly not happening anytime within the next year, not to mention lack of SD card support really killing the value of this for me. To get this phone now, with the MOST BASIC plan that includes a real data plan (i.e. one that isn't bullshit "300mb") and texting, your total cost of this phone is over $2460,

Or you could just get a cheaper windows phone off contract through a cheaper carrier, and still have enough money left over for an actual pretty-decent DSLR camera that technically can do the job better.

I'm just so frustrated because I really, really love the concept behind this phone and I'd love to have a phone that works like a mini-DSLR in my pocket. The problem is the price and the carrier and the lack of OBVIOUS "camera" features like SD card support completely nuke this from being something I'd even consider.

+1020, AT&T exclusive when Verizon is larger and selling more wp8 handsets is stupid, having this release so soon after the 925 and 928 is dumb, and I understand your point about SD cards and outrageous contracts.

You have to keep in mind the OS, apps, music, data and everything else on your phone will easily take up most of that.
I'm running with a lightweight 8GB on my 810, and I'm already max'd out on my storage (thanks to other storage taking up 4GB!), and have zero pictures, music, videos, etc on that internal storage with only a light array of low-space taking apps and one or two games (none of which are more than a few hundred MB in size).
Meanwhile my SD card (32gb) is holding about 12-14GB of music data (since my smartphone is also my media player), a few gigs of video footage (this takes up a HUGE amount of space) and all my photography, with about 8 or so GB of free space left.

If this phone seriously has only 32GB i'd literally be maxed out on my storage with my current set up. And this is with the 810, which doesn't take pictures/videos nearly as large as the 1020 does, and has a much smaller selection of apps installed due to the 8GB internal memory. And I don't take a massive amount of pictures or anything with this phone, which is what I'd want to do if I had the 1020.

OK, first of all your point is entirely valid, however, Verizon is more expensive than AT&T. I've checked. Regardless, I agree with you. If I get this, it will have to be off contract and $699 is still a steep price. I'm waiting to see what happens with the pricing this fall when I'm able to upgrade at contract pricing... at that point, I expect the 1020 will either dramatically drop in price or there will be a 920 successor with better specs.

Agree with pretty much everything you said. This is why T-Mo needed the 920 when it was released as well as this phone. No contracts to renew. Just buy the phone outright or pay it off over time. Problem solved.

I thought he did a great job. He answered taking resposability for pushing the phone and educating partner staff. He did not take the easy road and through AT&T under the bus. I think it was a pretty classy response.

Freaking awesome phone. This just moved up to the top of my Christmas list. The contract on my Lumia 900 is up in November.

And to those who are bitching about pricing, I've NEVER paid over $99 for the newest phones because I almost always upgrade around two to four weeks after the phones are released. That's when AT&T usually begins aggressively discounting pricing on phone contracts. My last two phones (Samsung Focus and Lumia 900) cost me $49 and $0 after rebates and they were both still the top phones out there.

Think of it like going to the movies. If you want to go the first weekend a movie is released, you're going to pay a premium price. If you wait a couple of weeks, you can go see it at the $1 movies. Any questions???